Chain of Lakes Middle, Orlando FL

Original Research by School Decision on Chain of Lakes Middle

Chain of Lakes Middle is a public middle school serving grades six through eight, located on Conroy Windermere Road in the western Orlando corridor, a part of the city that sits between the theme-park southwest and the suburban sprawl of East Orlando. The school draws from a broadly diverse student body: Black and Hispanic students together make up the large majority of enrollment, with white and Asian students comprising a smaller but present share, and a handful of students from other backgrounds. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that reflects the mix of working- and middle-class households in the area. The school falls within Orange County Public Schools, a large urban-suburban district. Data on IEP rates and English learner populations were not available in what we reviewed.

On the Florida state assessments, FAST Math and FAST ELA, proficiency rates across all three grade levels sit in a range that is generally below what many families would hope to see. Sixth graders score at the lower end of the spectrum in both math and ELA, seventh graders similarly so, and eighth graders show somewhat stronger math results while ELA dips again. The state science assessment for eighth grade falls in a comparable range. Taken together, and measured against other districts in Orange County, the school's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile relative to that comparison set. That is a straightforward finding worth sitting with. A parent whose child is approaching grade-level targets or needs challenge above grade level may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students at different points on the spectrum, and what interventions or advanced options are in place. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results have been moving up, down, or holding steady.

No program offerings were reported in the data, so details on honors tracks, electives, or extracurriculars were not available. The district brief search was exhausted before any confirmed parent-relevant changes could be identified, so we left that out rather than speculate.

The housing market around the school reflects the broader western Orlando picture. Home values in the zip code are modestly below the Florida state benchmark and near the national figure, and they have softened slightly year over year. Rents have also eased a touch. For a family weighing the area, monthly mortgage costs are estimated to be meaningfully above the rent for a comparable place, which makes renting a financially reasonable alternative for those not yet ready to buy. Orlando as a city is growing fast, with major investment downtown in the Creative Village district anchored by UCF and Valencia College, and new large-scale mixed-use development underway near the urban core. The broader economy draws on tourism, healthcare, aerospace, and education, with several of the state's largest employers based in the metro. The school's immediate neighborhood, along the Conroy-Windermere corridor, is suburban in character, car-dependent, and not especially walkable, which tracks with the western residential sections of the city rather than the more pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods closer to downtown.

The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, which means enrollment is driven by attendance zone rather than application. Chronic absenteeism data was not available for this school, so that dimension of school climate could not be assessed here. A family considering Chain of Lakes Middle would reasonably want to have a direct conversation with administrators about academic support structures, given the proficiency picture, and to weigh that against what the school's peer environment and extracurricular life look like in practice, details the available data does not fully answer.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 60% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 39% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 63% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 59% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 55% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 53% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Science

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 52% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

This schoolORANGE, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income40%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income40%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income37%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income34%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income28%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income56%20 pp gap